Car-door fastener.



L. S. SMITH,

CAR DOOR FASTENER.

APPUCATlOH HLED SEPT. 12, 191i.

Patented Dec. 25,1917. 2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

NVENTOR ATTORNEY L. 8. SMITH. CAR DOOR FASTENER- APPLICATION men SEPT. 12. 1917;

31,251,124. Patented Dec. 25,1917.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

A {a /g INVENTOR 5 7 L5: "Wi /v,

' VViTNESSES ATTORNEY LUCIAN SYLVANUS SMITH, 0F NIGHOLASVILLE, KENTUCKY.

CAR-DOOR FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 25, 1917.

Application filed September 12, 1917. Serial No. 191,070.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUCIAN S. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Nicholasville, in the county of Jessamine and State of Kentucky, have invented new and useful Improvements in Car-Door Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to locks and latches, and more especially to sliding door fasteners; and the object of the same is to produce a device of this type adapted particularly for use on freight car doors. The structure is such that the usual seal may be applied to the fastener for one or both doors while the latter are still open, and when they are subsequently closed they become locked in such manner that they cannot thereafter be opened from the exterior without first breaking the seal. The structure is also such, however, that either or both doors may be unfastened from the interior and opened without breaking the seal. Therefore the latter serves as a lock to the fastener only after both doors have been closed and only then against a person on the outside of the car. For these reasons the invention is adapted particularly for use on freight car doors which slide open and closed, although I do not wish to be limited in this respect.

Details are set forth below, and reference is made to the accompanying drawings wherein- Figure 1 is a side elevation of part of a freight car showing its door as closed and fastened by this improved device.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the keeper bar unlocked and dropped, the door in dotted lines partly open, and the latch bar and latch, the latter in full lines as raised.

Fig. 3 is an inside elevation of a portion of the door, showing the latter in the act of closing and the latch as riding over the keeper which is here raised.

Fig. 4. is a horizontal section on about the line 44 of Fig. 8.

Fig. 5 is a perspective detail of the latch and latch bar on an enlarged scale.

In the side of the ordinary freight car is a door opening 0 surrounded by a frame F hereinafter referred to as the frame element, and a track or hanger bar H extends along the top of the opening and the side of the car, while a guide rail G extends along the bottom of the opening beneath Sl-Kl track,

a door D being suitably mounted thereonso that it may slide overthe opening to close the same, or maybe slid back to expose the for the parts thus far described. I have;

shown the door'as'made'of sheet metal, and the frame as cut out with a recess'R on its inner face in Fig. 3 to receive the latch when the door is closed, but these details are unimportant.

Secured to the inner face of the door is a bar 1 having a double angle or elbow 2 in its body so that its front end, by which I mean that end toward the inner edge of the door, is spaced slightly therefrom as seen at 3,-and theba'r ispreferably of strap iron folded upon itself with its arms slightly spaced at the front end as seen in Fig. 5,

so as to produce a bracket having: an'upright slot or opening for the reception of the latch. Thelatter numbered 4 is a substantially triangular plate mounted on edge in said opening and pivoted at its front end at 5 within the arm 3, its'rear upper corner having a finger 6= overlying and normally resting on the elbow 2 by the gravity of the plate, and its'lower edge 7 at this time extending below the front arm 3 of the bar and inclining. downward from the pivoted front end of the latch toward itsabrupt rear end or heel 8'.

Overlying theoutside of the car body (or we might sayof theframe element F) is a bar 10 pivoted at llto such element at its rear end, which is that end remote from the door opening, its'bodybeing movable an upright plane under a suitable guide'12 and its front end carrying akeeper 13 adapted to'beengagedlby the latch, for which purpose said keeper must stand in a plane transverse to the upright lane in which the keeper plate moves. s perhaps the simplest manner of producing such keeper, I make the bar 100f strap iron, extend its front end to and part way over the opening 0, and bend it sharply toward the interior of the car, preferably into a plane at right angles to that of the keeper bar 10-; and the sheet metal door may be deflected outward slightly as shown' by the shading at 14 to permit itto clear thefront end of the bar asthe door slides to its closed position. At

this time the front end 3 of the inner bar or bracket 1 and the latch 4t carried thereby stand within the recess R in the inner face of the frame element F as seen in Fig. 3 that is, unless the frame element also is of sheet metal and does not need to be cut away or. recessed. However, when the door is closed the heel 8 of the latch is moved forward to a position beyond the plane of the keeper, and if now the keeper be raised it will pass behind said heel. hen not raised, the keeper is not in the path of the latch even when the latter is in its lowest position. TV hen the bar 10 and keeper 13 are raised and the door subsequently closed, the lower edge 7 of the latch travels over the keeper and causes the rise of the latch around its pivot, but when the door reaches its completely closed position the latch drops into engagement with the keeper as will be clear. Therefore, to unfasten the device it is necessary either to drop the keeper which can be done from the exterior of the car by moving the bar 10 downward, or to raise the latch which can be done only from the interior of the car.

Any suitable means may be provided for holding the keeper raised and in the path of the latch, but as herein shown I have provided an ordinary hasp 20 loosely supported at its upper end on av staple 21 and having an eye 22 in its lower end adapted to pass over a stud 23 formed on the outside of the bar 10, the stud being perforated as at 24 for the reception of a padlock or, as usual on freight car doors, a seal as indicated at S. The position of the staple and stud and length of the hasp are such that the locking means may only be applied when the keeper bar and keeper are raised. The parts are by preference entirely of metal, suitably treated to prevent rust, and they occupy very little spice, are inexpensive, devoid of springs, and not likely to get out of order. If the door D be of wood, it may be recessed on its inner face instead of deflecting a sheet metal door outward as indicated at 14:. In either case the purpose is to permit the door to slide open or closed in an upright plane just outside that of and close to the frame, and yet provide as small space as possible for the passage of the front end of the bar 10 inside the door and its rise and fall.

In the operation of this device when applied to a freight car door as suggested, let us assume that the shipping agent desires to lock or seal the fasteners before the doors of a car are actually closedthe reason perhaps being that he is called awayand yet he does not care to leave with the workmen his looks or keys or the dies for impressing the usual seals S. It is only necessary for him to raise the keeper lltlI'S, engage the hasps with their studs, and apply the locks or seals to the perforations. Thereafter the loading of the car proceeds as usual, and when it is finished the door or doors are slid closed. This causes the latches to ride over the keepers and their heels to drop into engagement therewith. If one door should be closed prematurely, or if both doors should be closed while the workmen are yet within the car, it is possible for them to lift the latch by grasping its finger, and then slide open the door; but once both doors are closed and fastened and there is no possibility of any one gaining access to the inner side of the door, the same can not be unlatched except from the exterior and then only by first removing the lock or seal. Thus the car travels to its destination, and the receiving agent unlocks it from the exterior, when the front end of the keeper drops to the position shown in Fig. 2 and the keeper passes out of the path of the latch, so that thereafter the door may he slid open from the exterior.

Usually the shipping agent closes and seals the door at the last moment before starting the car on its journey, and my invention in no way interferes with this custom. Other advantages result from the use of a fastener of this type. I might mention as one that, if the car contained valuable freight such as bullion and it were desired to have an attendant travel with it as a guard, he could be put into the car and the doors fastened and very strongly padlocked so as to exclude possible highwaymen, and yet the guard could make his exit whenever he desired. He might in fact be the express agent of a way train running through a dangerous country, and yet at each station he could open either door from the interior although at no time could any one open the door from the exterior without first removing the seal or padlock.

What is claimed is:

1. In a fastener of the type described, the combination with fixed and movable elements; of a latch pivotally supported on the movable element and normally standing with its lower edge inclined toward its rear end, a bar on the fixed element swinging in an upright plane, a keeper at the free end of the bar normally standing below the path of the latch, and means for raising such free end to bring the keeper into said path and locking it in such position.

2. In a fastener of the type described, the combination with fixed and movable elements; of a latch pivotally mounted on the 1ns1de ofone element and inaccessible from the exterior, its lower edge normally standmg inclined, a support pivotally mounted on the exterior of the other element and carrying keeper over which the movable element closes, the keeper standing normally below the path of said lower edge,

and means accessible from the exterior for raising the keeper into said path and locking it there.

3. In a sliding door fastener, the combination with fixed and movable elements; of a bracket secured inside one element and having an elbow within itslength, a latch pivoted at its f1 ont end in said bracket with its lower edge normally inclined to its heel and its upper corner having a finger resting on said elbow, a bar pivoted at its rear end to the outside of the other element and bent at its front end into a keeper adapted to enter behind the edge of the first element, a

guide for permitting the rise and limiting 15 In testimony whereof I afiizr my signature. 20

LUCIAN SYLVANUS SMITH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

